explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:383: Helping

2023-07-05T08:57:04Z

172.71.186.83: Added another interpretation

Most depressing XKCD ever? [[Special:Contributions/71.201.53.130|71.201.53.130]] 14:24, 22 August 2013 (UTC)
:Every time when I see this comic I'm close before some tear drops running out of my eyes ;( --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:42, 9 December 2013 (UTC)

Waitwaitwait. So the guy was in the building all along, witnessing the suicide/self-harm, and he failed to stop a woman from apparently successfully knocking herself out? 16:19, 24 May 2014 (UTC) {{unsigned ip|141.101.88.205}}

I thought Cueball was choking her![[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.169|108.162.238.169]]

So did I!!

I thought maybe it was about Randall's wife. Just like some of the comics feature her implicitly, I thought maybe this one did. {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.20}}

I think the explanation is a bit off. Sometimes getting someone into a hospital is helping. I've had to call 911 to get friends help. Things usually got bad for a while after that. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.124|108.162.216.124]] 21:46, 26 April 2015 (UTC)

The first time I saw this one, it was some 2 or 3 days after I had to call the police for a friend who was attempting suicide. It hit way, way too close to home, to the point where I wanted to cry. I ended up just getting up right then and going for a long walk in the woods to clear my head. 7:24, 2 July 2015 (UTC) {{unsigned ip|173.59.1.79}}

To 108.162.216.20, he married in 2011... this comic was made in 2008. Unfortunately, we may never know who he is referring to. {{unsigned ip|141.101.84.114}}

Am I the only one who feels that the point is he tried to talk to someone to cheer them up, but the woman was so distraught by what cueball said, it lead to self harm? {{unsigned ip|107.136.89.38}}
:I think the text is rather confusing: If you take responsibility for somebody's sadness, as in "I'm sorry. This was my fault." it may help. But saying "I made you feel this good" seems like bragging and does not help. But she was apparently already sad, so, yeah, kinda confused. Isn't that what explainxkcd is for? [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 22:52, 24 June 2017 (UTC)

When you care for someone, especially a significant other, your natural instinct as a decent human being is to provide help and support when they are in distress or upset. But with issues like depression, tendencies toward self-harm, or even general anxiety, your attempt to help provides no benefit or much more likely makes things worse. You being so close to that person makes it that much harder for them to be helped by you, and it often isn't your place to assume the role of therapist or counselor no matter how much you want to. No matter how much you think that person should be happy, you can't assume responsibility for it and no amount of convincing or reassuring is going to help that. When things get really bad, professional medical help and distance are the only thing that will keep that person safe. I cry when I read this. I've sat and held the hand of a close friend while he was handcuffed by campus police for his own safety and was escorted to a hospital for treatment. It takes a long time to heal that divide - and its the most frustrating thing in the world to know the best thing you can do is step away for a while. If you ever feel the need to comfort a spouse, a child, a friend who is so overwhelmed with existence that they aren't sure they want to live anymore, you'll understand this panel. {{unsigned ip|172.68.141.172}}

First time I read this comic, I didnt think much of it.
Rereading it years later, after I lived with a loved one struggling with depression, made me cry so much. It is exactly what I feel.

Does anyone else feel like the comic is actually saying that sometimes, bad things will happen no matter whether or not you try to help?

Okay, this almost happened to my classmate's friend like around 3 month plus ago, she was struggling with a case of suicide due to depression. When I see this, it reminds me of her friend a lot, and I wonder how is her friend doing. This is actually quite a tear-jerker if you are having a depression or your loved ones having it. Please, get some form of help if you need it...Boeing-787lover 10:08, 26 June 2018 (UTC)

A few of the people writing comments here seem to have concluded that the Cueball somehow made things more difficult for Megan. I don't see any indication of that. Just that he attempted to help or comfort her and that it wasn't sufficient. [[User:Mcherm|Mcherm]] ([[User talk:Mcherm|talk]]) 13:32, 2 May 2020 (UTC)

This one is just what it feels like when you can't do anything but put someone into psychiatric care, or stand by and watch it happen. You can try to help, but then you'll realize that nothing you can do is helping. It sucks. Nothing's going to prepare you for it. If you've been there, you won't forget it. [[User:Singlelinelabyrinth|Singlelinelabyrinth]] ([[User talk:Singlelinelabyrinth|talk]]) 14:45, 16 July 2020 (UTC)

I have a different interpretation altogether : Cueball hesitates to help. One path is, he does, and Meghan wipe tears off her eyes. One path is, he doesn't, and Meghan harms herself.

Talk:353: Python

2023-04-21T17:43:55Z

172.71.186.83:

It is necessary for both Cueballs to sample the medicine cabinet in order for this to be a hallucination. It was probably python.{{unsigned ip|122.161.29.247}}
:Or maybe there is just one Cueball - the one on the ground who is hallucinating - because he tried everything...? ;-) [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:45, 3 May 2014 (UTC)

'I also sampled everything in the medicine cabinet for comparison' is a possible reference to George's Marvellous Medicine, the children's book written by Roald Dahl, wherein a combination of medicines and household materials produces fantastical effects. [[User:Quetzalcoatl|Quetzalcoatl]] ([[User talk:Quetzalcoatl|talk]]) 14:31, 10 February 2014 (UTC)

:I think it's related to the invention of photographs, but I'm not sure [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.81|173.245.48.81]] 06:19, 3 January 2015 (UTC)

Woah guys, antigravity is a real module in Python! I was looking around the lib folder, trying to figure out how to put a module into it, and there it was - antigravity.py . It just sends your browser to the comic. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.171|108.162.219.171]] 22:07, 13 December 2014 (UTC)
:Yeah, that's already covered in the ''Trivia'' section ;-) --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 23:22, 14 December 2014 (UTC)

The implication is that in Python many otherwise amazing things become easily possible after a simple import statement and/or that there is a module for almost anything you'd want to do no matter how difficult.[[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.216|199.27.130.216]] 16:30, 29 April 2015 (UTC)

The explanation was wrong about many things. Python doesn't have a heavily-simplified syntax--it's about as simple as Perl (and a lot less simple than Lisp); the difference is that it's designed first and foremost to be consistent, easy to read, and easy to remember, even at the cost of occasionally being more verbose or rigid. Its syntax doesn't generally reduce complicated things to a single word; it does allow many complicated things that might take 20 statements in C to be reduced to a single statement, but that's because it's high-level (again, like Perl), not because of its syntax. Dynamic typing has nothing to do with declaring the types of values, much less specifically numeric values, and it has nothing to do with Python automatically knowing how much space to reserve for a value--in fact, it's the opposite; C knows to reserve 4 bytes for an int variable at compile time, whereas Python has no idea what kind of value you're going to put into the variable until runtime. And "like in Visual Basic or JavaScript" is very confused--Visual Basic is statically typed, while JavaScript is dynamically typed, just like Python.

Also, the explanation didn't explain why Cueball's friend was reticent to use dynamic typing or significant whitespace, or what the point of importing modules is.

So I rewrote most of it. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.69|162.158.255.69]] 20:55, 15 September 2015 (UTC)

I remember this Roald Dahl story where some guy takes everything in the medicine cabinet of their grandparent and can fly. That's what i instanly thought when i saw that phrase. I'm not sure which story, but it was a good one and i think it's worth mentioning. [[Special:Contributions/172.64.238.49|172.64.238.49]] 17:37, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

: Oh wait, i'm dumb it's //George's Marvellous Medicine// [[Special:Contributions/172.71.186.83|172.71.186.83]] 17:43, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

545: Neutrality Schmeutrality

2023-02-06T14:18:45Z

172.71.186.83: That prize belongs to BE o

{{comic
| number = 545
| date = February 18, 2009
| title = Neutrality Schmeutrality
| image = neutrality schmeutrality.png‎
| titletext = 'Hey, everyone, you can totally trust that I didn't do a word count on MY edit!'
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Wikipedia}} is an online encyclopedia with content developed and submitted by volunteers around the world. In fact, its slogan is "Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit." Most articles on the site can be altered by anyone with access to Wikipedia.

Wikipedia has set some standards for its operation, which it refers to as the "{{w|Wikipedia:Five pillars|Five pillars of Wikipedia}}". One of these pillars is titled "Wikipedia is written from a {{w|Wikipedia:Neutral point of view|neutral point of view}}."

{{w|Pro-life}} and {{w|pro-choice}} refer to two opposing viewpoints in the debate of the moral and legal rights concerning {{w|abortion}}. For many on both sides, it is a very emotional topic.

[[Black Hat]], like the class-hole he is, has decided to prove that you can create an article which fundamentally cannot remain neutral. Since his charitable donation is determined by the word count of the article, any submission to Wikipedia must result in Black Hat's money supporting either pro-life or pro-choice activists. With a reward of one million dollars, it is unlikely that either side would allow an article that would result in the other side winning to remain unedited. The edits need not even overtly change the neutrality of the tone of the article – by simply rewriting 'unbiased' phrases with a differing number of words, the effect of the page is drastically flipped.

The title of the comic uses an old (read, "pre-Internet") meme, possibly of Yiddish origin, known as {{w|shm-reduplication}}. The speaker replaces the initial consonant cluster (have it 0, 1 or even 2+ consonants) with the cluster "schm", read /ʃm/, and says the new word after the unadulterated word, as in the title where it is "N" that has been replaced. This denotes an active apathy or an intentional disregard of the authority (for it is usually an authority or someone in a similar position) being mocked. In this case, Black Hat is disregarding Wikipedia's neutrality doctrine with his {{w|word count}} dependent donation rule.

The title text is an imagined statement from a Wikipedia contributor attempting to assert the neutrality of their submission, claiming no word count was performed before posting. However, it is nearly impossible to trust that ''anyone'' editing such an article would not make an attempt to shift the result in their side's favor, since it is impossible to know whether someone performed a word count.

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the panel:]
:Trivia: It's possible to create events which Wikipedia cannot cover neutrally
:[Black Hat is at a press conference in which he is making an announcement in front of a large crowd mainly of Cueballs but also some Megans.]
:Black Hat: In a week, I will be donating $1,000,000 to a recipient determined by the word count of the Wikipedia article about this event. If it's even, the money goes to pro-choice activists. If it's odd, pro-life.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Wikipedia]]
[[Category:Public speaking]]